A bunshin is a bunshin right?
by Chrysanthemum1632
Summary: A young Naruto learns the kage bunshin without knowing quite what it does.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

They've just learned the bunshin in class, and Naruto knows he's going to have a horrible time of it. It's not like anyone can do the technique right away – not surprising since it's the first one they've learned – but Naruto fails in a different way than anybody else. The teachers don't seem willing to work with him on it and he can't use the advice they're giving the other students because he has a completely different problem. Other people's failed bunshin techniques are transparent wisps of themselves but Naruto's are completely opaque, they just lack all color and seem to writhe in agony. Putting in more chakra like the teachers tell the other students to do doesn't make Naruto's bunshin any better, and Naruto really needs to learn this technique. The graduation exam may be years away but Naruto hasn't made any progress at all with the technique and he's pretty sure it's going to be on the exam – that's what the teacher have said anyway.

So when Naruto sees a Jounin make a bunshin with just one hand sign he's really, really interested. The academy bunshin technique takes way more than one hand sign so Naruto figures this one must be easier and he wonders why they don't just teach this one in the academy. Then again a bunch of stuff they teach in the academy doesn't seem worth it so maybe it's just another of those stupid decisions no one will explain to him. Really, why would anyone need to calculate the trajectory of a thrown kuni? All you need to do is dodge it, and nobody's going to use math to figure out when to dodge in the middle of a ninja battle. But the teachers never answer when Naruto asks about it, so Naruto concludes they're just as stupid as the things they're teaching.

He finishes the prank he's playing on the man, but as soon as he's done he tries out this new type of bunshin. If there's a simpler type of bunshin than the academy one then maybe Naruto can pretend he's doing the academy one and instead pass the test with the easier one. He feels a little bad about cheating like that, but given how mean his teachers are he figures he doesn't really care. If they want him to pass the test their way then they should teach better. Besides, the test is about being a ninja, so fooling the ninja administrating the test is pretty much a pass anyway right?

The bunshin comes out perfect the first time. He's not transparent, and he looks like Naruto instead of a white Naruto shaped blob. This is a success. Everything is going exactly as Naruto hoped, until the copy of himself starts turning around in circles and patting himself down to make sure he's all there. Naruto's never seen one of the bunshin at the academy do anything like that, and what happens next is even stranger.

"Well boss, guess we've got bunshin covered huh? We'll be graduating in no time! And then we're gonna be Hokage! Believe it!"

Naruto is left staring at his bunshin; he doesn't think he's ever heard one speak before.

"Boss? Are you ok in there?"

And the bunshin waves it's hand in front of his face before grabbing onto his jacket and shaking just a little.

"Boss?"

But Naruto doesn't answer immediately, he's stuck staring at his bunshin's very solid hands holding on to his jacket. He stays that way for a moment before voicing his thoughts.

"This technique … is way better than the academy bunshin!"

"You're right boss, but it's going to take some work to pass it off since it's so different."

"Yeah, I guess that means I'm going to have to keep the bunshin from this technique completely secret until I figure out what all the differences are."

They stay silent, staring at each other for a moment.

"Hey boss, am I just supposed to disappear or what? The academy bunshins usually just burst into smoke when you stop feeding them chakra, but I don't think you're feeding me chakra. Are you boss?"

"No, I don't think I am. I'll try stopping the technique the same way we do in class."

They sit in silence for a few more seconds.

"Guess not, huh?"

"Nope."

"I'll just have to hide out here till you figure out how to dispel me."

"Alright, but no pranking. I'll get blamed for it and they might even start wondering how I managed to pull a prank on someone while I was in class. We want to keep this technique a secret so we can't make people suspicious."

"No pranking! But I'm gonna be so bored!"

"You can't pull any pranks, but you could spy on people and think up pranks for me to pull."

"Spying on people … that's how we learned this technique. The things people use are obviously better and easier than what you're getting taught in the academy, maybe I could learn more of them?"

"That would be awesome! I'm gonna be Hokage in no time! Believe it!"

* * *

The first people the clone finds to spy on are a genin team. He stays to watch since he figures the easiest way to learn more techniques is to spy on them being taught, that way they'll come with an explanation and everything. The boss had managed to do this new type of bunshin just by seeing it but now they were left not really knowing much about how it worked, which was – case in point – causing problems.

He almost leaves when he hears that it's going to be a chakra control exercise, but the teacher's demonstration immediately changes his mind. Who wouldn't want to be able to walk up walls? Just think how many more pranks you could pull!

He listens all the way through the teacher's explanation but leaves once the genin start to practice. He wants to try it himself. There's every chance that since he's a bunshin he can't do techniques at all, but since he's is such a different type of bunshin than the one they know about he decides to at least try.

It isn't easy but he's getting better. He's getting farther up the trunk before he cracks the bark or falls off, and he can modify how much chakra he's using based on what happened last time. Not only that, it's actually getting easier to feel how much he's using and to correct it.

By the end of the day the bunshin has almost reached the top of the tree. He's getting tired, but he doesn't want to stop till he gets to the top. He wants to have something impressive to show boss when they meet up again, something that will make boss glad to have created him, he wants to be useful.

He's just reached the top when he slips, and he's tired enough that he doesn't manage to catch his fall right. On Naruto it would have been a bruise, but the bunshin bursts into smoke.

* * *

Naruto pauses in the moment before he pours boiling water into his instant ramen. He stands there motionless absorbing memories that weren't his. He walks over to his wall and slowly walks to the ceiling and down again. Then he pours his water, and as his ramen cooks he considers what this means.

His clones can learn for him. It was the clone who had practiced walking up trees, but now Naruto could too. He could learn double the amount anyone else could. He could have a clone learning non-academy techniques – instead of just recording what they were so Naruto could learn them – while Naruto was stuck learning academy ones!

But Naruto gets the distinct impression that his bunshin is gone now, and he isn't sure why. It could be the clone ran out of chakra, it could have been the fall, or the technique might just have a time limit that he didn't know about.

He'll have to create another bunshin tomorrow.

**Published December 10, 2014**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The second bunshin Naruto has made is bored. No one is practicing in this area today, so he has no one to spy on. Instead of learning something new he'll have to practice something they already know, which leaves only three choices: tree walking, academy bunshin, or his type of bunshin. Considering those three options it's clear which he's going to do. They've already gotten pretty good at tree walking and the academy bunshin is really annoying, so he'll experiment with the non-academy bunshin. It turns out that clones can make other clones, though that seems to have a limit. The original clone had made a clone, who made a clone etc. But the last two just dispelled with hardly enough memory to make an impact on the others.

"Well, it looks like each clone has less chakra than the last, and if we have too little we dispel."

"So that's what happened to the clone last night."

"Maybe … I don't think he'd really run himself out of chakra practicing. From what we remember he wasn't quite as low on chakra as these two were."

"He did fall, maybe hitting the ground dispelled him?"

The clones take a moment to consider that before the newest created clone (barring the two who had dispelled) spoke.

"Someone should hit me."

"What?"

"We've gotta test this out, and I'll be the next to dispel anyway."

"Ok."

One of the other clones punches him, and there's a puff of smoke as he disappears.

"So running out of chakra will dispel us, and getting hit will dispel us."

"There goes having one of us sub in for Naruto."

"Were we even considering that?"

"I was, even the academy has got to be less boring than this."

"Point."

"Speaking about the academy, I think we've learned all we're going to be able to at the moment about this type of bunshin, maybe we should try practicing the academy type."

"I suppose. Not like there's much else to do."

* * *

For the first time there's a difference in how Naruto does the bunshin. The clones seem to range in ability, with one who is as horrible as the original Naruto all the way to one whose bunshin actually have some color in them.

"What are we doing different?!"

"Wait a second... Line up in order of when you were created."

The new lineup makes it clear, the newer the bunshin the better their academy bunshin looked. The original bunshin – who had called for the lineup in the first place – considered this.

"We're all bunshin, so the only difference is that you guys have less chakra."

"You mean we put too much chakra into the technique? That's the opposite of the problem other students have. Why couldn't the teachers just tell us that?"

"Dunno, but at this point that's just a guess, we've gotta test it out."

It is a problem of how much chakra they're using, but they still can't manage the academy bunshin. It just takes too little chakra. As the clones slowly dispel as they use up their chakra practicing, the remaining ones abilities at the academy bunshin jump, but it just isn't enough. By the time the original bunshin dispels himself he's only managed to create a bunshin with a little color. While he had the advantage of the memories of all the other clones, he was also the one with the most chakra, and thus the hardest job. They might be able to practice the academy bunshin until they can put in little enough chakra to make it work, but that will take a good while unless they find a better way of practicing.

* * *

They've spent weeks on learning the bunshin, and finally the class is going to move on to something else. Naruto can't wait. There aren't many places secluded enough to hide his bunshin, and the ones that are secluded enough don't get many ninja practicing. And even when those ninja are practicing they don't really use techniques Naruto can pick up. They use shuriken or kuni, or they practice taijutsu, or they practice their techniques without hand signs which – while really cool, and something Naruto is now determined to do whenever possible – means that Naruto can't copy them.

As it turns out the next thing they're going to learn is absolutely perfect for Naruto. The technique is called henge, and with this Naruto's bunshin aren't gonna need to hide away anymore. It would be even more perfect if he could do the technique.

* * *

It's on a day off from the academy when Naruto is practicing with his clones that they hit on a workable plan.

"Hey boss... I've got a weird idea, but hear me out ok?"

"Alright."

"So pretend clones are hard for us, but solid clones are easy. Maybe pretend shape changing is hard for us but solid shape changing will be easy?"

"That actually makes some sense, but were would we learn a solid henge?"

"Maybe we can make our own? No, seriously. Look, can we at least try for a few days? It's not like we have much else to do."

"I guess. It'll put off getting henge mastered but we're pants at that anyway so a few more days shouldn't matter much."

* * *

The clones don't even know how they did it but mixing up the hand signs of the normal henge has managed to produce a solid form. They've experimented some to make sure they're not going to get caught if they start going out into the village in their new henge, and it seems like it'll work. In the worst case – if someone suspects them – they can just turn into a pebble for a while until the person goes by. They've tried it before, so they know that they can turn into things much smaller or larger than themselves, and even into non-living things. And if necessary they can dispel themselves, which will mean they wont be found while at the same time warning all the others.

* * *

It's on another free day at the academy that Naruto and his clones decide to test out their new henge. Naruto is staying hidden with his clones so that if someone notices the henge the clone can just drop it and pretend to be Naruto.

They've actually thought carefully about what the clone's mission should be. The other clones are very interested in having this go well so they've put a lot of time into the planning. They've come up with multiple criteria that the mission needs to fit:

1\. The clone cannot pretend to be an adult.

2\. The clone cannot pretend to be a girl.

3\. The clone cannot pretend to be a person who already exists.

4\. The clone should have minimal interaction with ninjas.

5\. The mission must be something Naruto would do.

6\. The mission must be something Naruto would use henge for.

7\. The clone must not use much chakra.

8\. The clone must be in minimal danger of being hit.

9\. The clone must not be around people who have much experience with Naruto.

In the end they've settled on having the clone buy some prank supplies from a shop that won't let Naruto in. It fits all criteria, and it will get Naruto some things he's wanted for quite a while now.

When the clone gets back the others aren't sure what to think. He's still in henge and he has the prank supplies, but he looks kind of dumbfounded and he actually has a lot more than prank supplies.

"Did you get caught? Are you all right? What's going on? What's all this other stuff?"

"It's next weeks groceries."

The clone seems to shake himself out of whatever had been bothering him long enough to explain.

"I went to the shop with the amount of money we thought we'd need. But his prices were way lower than we expected so I had extra. He hadn't suspected me so I thought since we were eventually going to have to be around people who know Naruto I could try that now. I went to our usual joke shop to spend the rest of the money, but he charged me less than normal so I still had some money left. I used the rest for groceries at all the normal placed and everything cost less than we're used to. They look fresher too."

"Well, you did what you weren't supposed to. But since we were going to need to eventually and what you found out was so interesting I guess that's ok. Still, does that mean everyone's been overcharging me? I guess I'm never buying as me again."

"You might have to boss. The shop owners will probably notice if you just stop showing up, and they might realize you're using henge."

"So?"

"Then they'll start looking for you in henge and they might find us in henge."

"I guess that's true. But that's only if I just stop buying. If I slowly buy less and less as me they might not notice, or just think I've started buying somewhere else. People are way less likely to notice slow changes."

"True, and that has made some fun pranks."

"Yeah, but I think this might count as the best prank of all."

**Published December 10, 2014**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The clones have reached an impasse in their mastery of the henge. They know that they'll need to pass as adults or as girls eventually, but they don't know how they're going to learn to act like adults or girls. They need to become good enough to fool ninja, but they can't practice much without encountering ninja who might notice them.

"We need somewhere else to practice. Somewhere without ninja all over."

"And then we need some ninja to practice on who aren't from Konoha."

"What?"

"We'll need to find out if we're good enough to fool ninja without testing on Konoha ninja who might recognize us."

"Yeah, but it's not like there are non-Konoha ninja in Konoha."

There is silence for a moment.

"Are we really saying that we'll need to leave Konoha to master the henge?"

"Couldn't that get the boss in a lot of trouble? If they find us, who they think are him, sneaking out."

"If we sneak out in animal forms through the training grounds it might not be noticed."

"We'll burst once we've practiced too much, so it's not like we'll need to sneak back in."

"But will the animal forms fool ninja?"

"They might. We're worried about hengeing into girls or grown-ups because people will expect us to act like them and we don't know how, but people don't pay as much attention to animals."

"Not to mention we can watch animals to see how they act so we can get good at faking it."

There's another moment of silence.

"The boss is the one who'll get in trouble if this goes badly, I say we should let him decide what to do."

"In the meantime we can start watching animals."

"Why? The boss might decide it's too risky for us the try it."

"First of all, this is the boss, if we're bored enough to try this then he probably is too. And secondly, what else do we really have to do around here?"

"Points taken."

* * *

They bring the subject up at the boss's next free day.

"So what you're saying is that to know if we can fool ninja, we need to test on non-Konoha ninja, but to do that we need to fool Konoha ninja? That makes no sense."

"It actually does... Hear me out alright? We need to know if our human henge can fool ninja, so we need to test it on non-Konoha ninja, but to do that we need our animal henge to fool Konoha ninja. They've never mentioned changing into anything but another human in class, so maybe they won't be suspecting it? And if they do notice us we can get injured enough to dispel before they find out it's you. We're going to need to take the chance."

"Alright, does one of you want to test this now?"

"I will."

* * *

They've decided to test their animal henge inside the village. Nobody seems to pay much attention to the stray cats and it'll get Naruto in less trouble if they're found out than if they got caught trying to sneak out of Konoha.

Nobody pays much attention to the Naruto cat. In fact it's much nicer to be the cat walking the streets than it is to be Naruto. While Naruto gets glares and whispers behind his back, the cat is either ignored or petted. The clone is enjoying the difference so much he even ventures into the library just to see if the nasty librarians will be nice too.

Naruto doesn't like the library and usually refuses to even go in. This fact has not led to good grades.

It isn't even the books that make him avoid it – though the dullness of the books he's supposed to read for school doesn't help – it's the librarians whose skills at glaring have been honed from years of dealing with loud, dirty, rambunctious children. The glares they reserve for Naruto are enough to freeze a normal person and Naruto has learned to stay far away. Seeing them be nice to his cat form is one of the best jokes the clone thinks they'll have played yet, and while the secrecy means they won't get to laugh about it in public at least he'll get to share the joke with the other clones and the boss.

The librarians are actually so nice to the cat version of him that the clone accidentally stays longer than he was intending to. What he hears entirely makes up for how much he will have worried the boss and the others. It turns out the library has books that teach ninja skills. And no matter how boring reading may be, the clone knows it's got to be more interesting than hiding in the woods practicing the academy bunshin.

The mission is a double success. They've confirmed that animal henges will fool ninja, and he's found another thing that clones can do with their time; he can't wait to tell the boss!

* * *

With the confirmation that ninjas will ignore clones henged as animals the bunshin finally get to do interesting things. Every day some sneak out to study how non-ninjas act in the surrounding villages while others watch the citizens of Konoha and still more quietly infiltrate the library looking for anything interesting to learn.

There are still some who are forced to hide all day, but they have more to practice now so it's less boring. Plus, a lot of what they're practicing is pretending to be other people convincingly which is oddly hilarious.

It's one of the clones exploring the town who finds their next big breakthrough. It's a bunch of incredibly creepy labs dotting the city that look like they were abandoned years ago. Naruto wants nothing to do with whatever was being researched in them but it will provide a safe place for them to hide in the city and it comes with a treasure trove of old technique scrolls. They've hit the jackpot.

"We're gonna be Hokage, believe it!"

**Published: March 8, 2015**


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